Premiere performance: March 6, 2008, Maryem Hassan-Tollar, alto. Rufus Mueller, tenor. The Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Choir under the direction of Ivars Taurins. Trinity United Church. Toronto, Canada.

The Texts:

1. Shalom-Salaam
 
I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.

As a lily among thorns, so is my love among young women.

As an apricot  tree among the trees of the woods, so is my beloved among young men.
 
My beloved spake, and said unto me,

Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone.
 
My beloved spake, and said unto me,
 
The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, 
and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land again (repeat). 

Salaam - Shalom: Give us peace (repeat).

From The Song Of Songs — 1. Salaam - Shalom

You can learn to play this piece. FREE scores and parts, among other materials, are available online: kronosquartet.org/fifty-for-the-future

Composed by Kala Ramnath on violin, arranged for string quartet by Reena Esmail 
© 2016 Inner Sunset Publishing
℗ 2016 Kronos Performing Arts Association
Commissioned for Fifty for the Future: The Kronos Learning Repertoire

Produced by Kronos Quartet
Recorded July 2016 at Studio Trilogy, San Francisco, CA
Engineered and mixed by Laura Dean
Assistant Engineer: Alex Spencer
Production Assistant: Minna Choi
Mixed at Women's Audio Mission, San Francisco, CA
Assistant Mixing Engineers: Monica Bonilla, Ripley Young, Becca High, Victoria Fajardo, Hannah Valente and Victoria Fajardo

Amrit

Kala Ramnath - Amrit

This track was recorded from a youth penitentiary in the Greater Vancouver Regional District and shared with consent and permission.

Librarium's Album

Music For the People ft. BYCS Youth (Version 1.0)

Salvatore Sciarrino's first work for solo flute, All'aure in una lontananza (1977), performed on alto flute by Mark Takeshi McGregor. Performed live on 14 September 2016 at the International Symposium of New Music 2016 in Curitiba, Brazil. Presented by the Grupo de Pesquisa Núcleo Música Nova.

Salvatore Sciarrino: All'aure in una lontananza

First piece from a set of short piano pieces for intermediate players.  Explores syncopation and rhythms found in reggae music.

A little Reggae Music

Re-imagining of Narvaez' "Cancion del Emperador."

AYRE II - Remixes

Elizabeth Knudson: You Dream In Beauty

Ere Sleep Comes Down takes its text from three verses of a poem (Ere Sleep Comes Down to Soothe the Weary Eyes) by African-American writer Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906).  While the poetic imagery is vivid— encompassing the range of emotion and intensity of a fully-lived life—I was drawn to the sense of calm and peace found in the final verse.  The soul finding a sense of peace is something I think we hope to find at the end of any long journey.  The music reflects this sense of calm, with its gentle 12/8 meter, as well as a sense of yearning with its harmonies inspired by traditional gospel and blues. 

Ere Sleep Comes Down was composed for Chor Leoni Men’s Choir (Vancouver, Canada), in early 2019, in response to a call for new scores, and the piece tied for first place in the Chor Leoni’s national Canadian Choral Composition Competition. Elizabeth Knudson received a Barbara Pentland Award for Outstanding Composition (presented by the Canadian Music Centre) for this work. Ere Sleep Comes Down received its premiere on May 10th, 2019 by Chor Leoni Men’s Choir, directed by Erick Lichte, at the Orpheum Annex, Vancouver, Canada.

Sheet music for this piece is available through the Canadian Music Centre:

https://cmccanada.org/shop/75919/

- - -
Ere sleep comes down to soothe the weary eyes, 
Which all the day with ceaseless care have sought
The magic gold which from the seeker flies;
Ere dreams put on the gown and cap of thought,
And make the waking world a world of lies--
Of lies most palpable, uncouth, forlorn,
That say life's full of aches and tears and sighs--
Oh, how with more than dreams the soul is torn,
Ere sleep comes down to soothe the weary eyes.


Ere sleep comes down to soothe the weary eyes, 
Where ranges forth the spirit far and free?
Through what strange realms and unfamiliar skies
Tends her far course to lands of mystery?
To lands unspeakable-- beyond surmise,
Where shapes unknowable to being spring,
Till, faint of wing, the Fancy fails and dies
Much wearied with the spirit's journeying,
Ere sleep comes down to soothe the weary eyes.

When sleep comes down to seal the weary eyes,
The last dear sleep whose soft embrace is balm,
And whom sad sorrow teaches us to prize
For kissing all our passions into calm,
Ah, then no more we heed the sad world's cries,
Or seek to probe th' eternal mystery,
Or fret our souls at long-withheld replies,
At glooms through which our visions cannot see,
When sleep comes down to seal the weary eyes.
- - -
Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906)

Ere Sleep Comes Down (for men's choir)

Elizabeth Knudson is a nationally award-winning composer of orchestral, chamber, vocal & electroacoustic music, and an Associate Composer of the Canadian Music Centre.  

For a more detailed bio: http://www.elizabethknudson.ca/bio/
To request purchase/rental/loan of sheet music, please visit the Canadian Music Centre website: https://cmccanada.org/composer/elizabeth-knudson/

Ere Sleep Comes Down (for men's choir)

Elizabeth Knudson

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